


Double Take

by Spacecadet72



Category: Forever (TV), Murdoch Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 04:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8608237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Dr. Henry Morgan visits Dr. Julia Ogden and her husband, William Murdoch, while in Toronto for a medical conference.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write a Forever/Murdoch Mysteries crossover pretty much since the show began, but it never quite got out of my WIP folder until now. I had originally planned on doing a fullblown case fic, but a) it's me, and b) it's November and I couldn't go that and NaNoWriMo. This is a little shorter than that would have been, but it still allowed me to write the parts I wanted to. :D
> 
> This is set vaguely season 9/10 of Murdoch Mysteries, sometime after Julia and William are married. Around 1904/1905.

William Murdoch looked up as his wife, Julia Ogden, walked into his office. He set down the new weaponized capacitor prototype he had been tinkering with and smiled.

“Julia,” he said, walking over to kiss her hello. “What a pleasant surprise. Are you here about the case?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have anything new to report, this is a personal matter.”

“Oh?” William asked, his eyebrows raised.

“I just received word that a doctor I used to work with in Buffalo will be in Toronto next week for the medical conference. I would love for you to meet him.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Julia,” William said. “Which doctor is it? Did I meet him during the investigation at the hospital?”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t think so. His name is Henry Morgan. He’s a brilliant physician and a good friend. I am so happy that you will get to meet him. He’s as interested in scientific and medical advances as you are. I think you’ll like him.”

“I am looking forward to it, Julia,” William said, excited at the prospect of meeting another scientifically minded person. Not everyone at the station was as interested in his ideas as he was. “Now, what were your lunch plans?” he asked, smiling at the thought of sharing lunch with his wife. They’d both been so busy lately, they hadn’t had much time just to themselves.

“I was thinking I might have lunch with my husband,” she said with a smile to match his.

“Excellent,” he said, as he grabbed his hat before taking her arm.

\-----

A week later, William stopped by the morgue to check with Julia about a detail on the case they were working. When he got there, Julia was talking with a man, whose face he couldn’t see.

“William,” Julia said, a wide, happy smile on her face as she noticed him walking towards them. “I would like you to meet Dr. Henry Morgan. Henry, this is my husband Detective William Murdoch.”

The man turned then, and held his hand out for William to shake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Detective,” he said pleasantly. “Julia has told me so much about you.”

Dr. Morgan’s features were handsome and open, and nothing about them would have particularly caught William’s attention if he hadn’t seen them before. Almost thirty years ago.

William’s eyes widened, but he schooled his features before shaking Dr. Morgan’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Dr. Morgan,” William said, trying to hide his shock.

It had been so long since he had last seen the man, but the memories were vivid, as sharp as if it had happened only the day before.

_1876_

_William ran back towards the church, waving on the doctor behind him._

_"Hurry," he called back, as the church came into view. He wasn't sure what had been wrong with the parishioner who had collapsed during Mass, but the sooner he got back to the church with the doctor, the better it would be._

_Father Keegan had sent him to fetch the doctor as soon as the man, a M. Bourdillon had collapsed, and William had run off towards the office of the nearest doctor, when he had bumped into this man. When the man asked why he was in such a hurry, William had said that he needed to fetch a doctor and began running off again. The man called out that he was a doctor, and held up his physician's bag as proof. "My name is Henry Morgan. I can attend to the patient."_

_William had never met the man before, but it would take several more minutes to get to the doctor and even longer after that to get back to the church. Bumping into this man was a miracle, and William could only pray that Dr. Morgan would be able to save the man._

_He and Dr. Morgan burst through the chapel doors, and the doctor pushed past the people crowded around M. Bourdillon. He knelt next to the man and began his examination, while the rest of the congregation watched on. Every now and then William caught pieces of hushed conversation around the group, but mostly he was focused on Dr. Morgan. His movements were methodical, his face serious and he looked over M. Bourdillon._

_After several tense moments, Dr. Morgan looked up at Father Keegan. “Is there somewhere I can tend to the patient?” he asked, glancing up at the crowd. “It will be easier to treat him with a little more space.”_

_Father Keegan nodded. “There is space in my office,” he said, gesturing to a couple of men to help the doctor carry M. Bourdillon._

_William waited outside Father Keegan’s office while the doctor and Father Keegan stayed inside attending to M. Bourdillon. Most of the congregation had gone home an hour ago, so William sat alone, waiting._

_Finally, Father Keegan stepped out of the office, and looked at William and shook his head._

_“M. Bourdillon has gone to be with God,” Father Keegan said sadly. “There was nothing the doctor could do.”_

_William nodded._

_Father Keegan walked off to go make arrangements for the funeral. William peeked inside the office. Dr. Morgan had taken off his coat, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was cleaning up the tools from his doctor’s bag. M. Bourdillon had been covered with a sheet._

_Dr. Morgan looked up and saw William standing in the doorway._

_"I'm glad you found me," Dr. Morgan said, his voice heavy as he packed his tools back into his bag, "although I am sorry I was unable to save him."_

_“Me too,” William said quietly looking over at the covered body._

_Dr. Morgan followed his gaze. He said nothing, but watched William for a reaction._

_"Father Keegan says that we have nothing to fear from the dead,” William said, needing to say something in the stifling silence._

_Dr. Morgan regarded him for a moment, taking in the words before answering. "Do you believe it?"_

_William nodded. “The dead aren’t frightening, they’re sad.”_

_Dr. Morgan nodded. “That is very true.”_

 

“I hate to leave after just meeting, but I really do need to be getting back to the medical conference. Their afternoon sessions will be starting soon.”

William looked up, pulled out of his memories as Dr. Morgan pulled out a silver pocket watch and consulted it briefly.

“It was lovely to see you again, Julia, and it was a pleasure to meet you, Detective,” he nodded at William before taking his leave.

“William, is something wrong?” Julia asked once they were alone. “You looked shocked to meet Dr. Morgan.”

“Julia,” William said, lowering his voice. They were alone, but he didn’t want this overheard. “I’ve met him before.”

It was Julia’s turn to look surprised. “You have? Was it at the hospital in Buffalo? I didn’t think he was working there then.”

“No, Julia, I met him thirty years ago.”

Julia looked even more surprised at that. “You met as children? As far as I understand it, he grew up in England. He didn’t come over to New York until he was much older.”

William shook his head, still trying to process everything. “I was a child, Julia, but Dr. Morgan was not. He looked exactly as he did just now.”

Julia’s brow furrowed. “But how is that possible?”

William shook his head, turning to look back the way Dr. Morgan left. “I don’t know, Julia. I just don’t know.”

\----

“Sir, do you really think it’s the same man?” George asked as he and William left the morgue. George had walked in as Julia and he were discussion Dr. Morgan and overheard their conversation. As soon as he had heard about William’s encounter with Dr. Morgan 30 years ago, his imagination had come up with all sorts of “explanations.”

William shook his head. “I don’t know what to think, George, but I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for the resemblance.”

“You know, I was thinking about that sir,” George said, as they walked back towards the station. “What if the man is an immortal? That would explain why he looked the same yesterday as he did thirty years ago.”

William sighed, wishing George had never heard about this. “George, there are no such things as immortals. It was probably a relative or someone who just looked like him. And Henry Morgan isn’t an uncommon name, either.”

“Yes, sir,” George said, sounding unconvinced. “But that really would be quite the coincidence, wouldn’t it? Two Henry Morgans thirty years of each other who look exactly alike?”

“And you think Dr. Morgan being an immortal is more likely than the idea of two men who look alike?” William asked, turning to look at George. “It was over thirty years ago. My memory of the encounter could be unreliable.”

George nodded. “Your memory usually isn’t, though, sir. And I believe that there are immortals walking among us, right now.”

“How did they become that way, George? People can’t just live forever.”

George paused, thinking for a moment. “I haven’t figured that part out yet, sir, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“What are you two going on about?” Brackenreid asked as William and George walked into the station.

“I’m telling Detective Murdoch about my theory about immortals, sir,” George said, clearly gearing up to share the same theory with the Inspector.

Brackenreid held up a hand. “Now’s not the time for discussing bloody immortals, Crabtree,” he said, impatiently. “Now what did you find out about our latest victim?”

\-----

Henry Morgan poked his head into William’s office, knocking on the doorframe lightly. Both William and Julia looked up from the evidence they had been examining.

“Dr. Morgan,” William said, gesturing Henry into his office. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“The conference is over, so I need to be going back to New York, but I wanted to stop by and say goodbye. And there was a small matter I wanted to clear up before I left,” he said.

“Oh?” William asked, feeling his curiosity rising.

“I grew up in England, and spent most of young adult life there, but my uncle, also a doctor, spent some time in Canada. Julia mentioned that you had possibly met him about 30 years ago. He has since passed away, but he would have been in that area then. There is a strong family resemblance among the Morgans. I took after both him and my father.”

William dropped his gaze, feeling sheepish. “I apologize,” he said, glad to know there was such a simple, logical explanation. “I should have realized it was a relative. It’s just you look so much like him.”

Henry shook his head. “Don't worry about it, Detective. I’m glad I can put your mind at ease. Julia assured me that as a man of science, knowing the explanation would help.”

“It certainly does, thank you for sharing that with me.” William reached his hand out to shake Henry’s. “It was good to meet you, Dr. Morgan. Please stop by if you’re ever back in Toronto.”

“I will be sure to do that, Detective,” Henry said, tipping his hat and walking out of the office.

“See, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation,” Julia said, leaning back against the table with a smile.

“There was, as there always is,” William said, feeling sheepish. “I realized how ridiculous it sounded once George started explaining his theory about immortals.”

Julia laughed. “Although, there’s something kind of romantic about the idea of living forever, being able to see all the wonderful advances of humanity with that sort of perspective. Not being limited to such a short lifetime.”

“Yes, but unless the people you loved were immortal too, I imagine it would be rather lonely,” William said, looking sad.

Julia nodded. “That is true. I’m glad we have this one life together,” she said, reaching down to grab his hand and twine their fingers together.

William nodded, feeling his heart swell a little with love for this woman. “Me too,” he said, before leaning in to kiss her gently. It would be wonderful to be able to watch the progressions of decades and even centuries, but none of that was worth not having Julia by his side.


End file.
